Friday, June 10, 2005

Unnecessary stuff we buy....

I've been on a junk-quilting kick lately. I don't know what it is, but even more than regular scrap quilts, I love to sew string quilts and crazy type blocks from left over trimmings I couldn't bear to part with. You know those triangles you clip off when you join lengths of strips for binding on the diagonal? Yep. I even save those. I heard someone talking about this "mile a minute' quilt...I found the pattern on ebay. Ebay is great for many things, but be sure you have seen the item first hand before buying it!

I got this pattern for $6.99 plus s/h. Being that I have been a pattern designer in a previous life (I used to design for the butterick pattern co...and had my own pattern company for dolls and stuffed animals under the name "needle in a haystack") maybe I am expecting too much when it comes to what you get for $6.99....but let me tell you...this pattern had a cover..folded in half. One sheet inside...poorly written directions, no diagrams or pictures, typed on one sheet front and back...and that was IT! I'm disgusted. I learned no more from buying this pattern than I would have if I had just looked at the picture on the front, and didn't even READ the instructions. :c/

Maybe it's just one of those quilts you don't need a pattern for, and I was kind of expecting this because of my sewing experience, but I thought that there was some new trick or technique that was just going to turn on the lightbulb for me as far as using small pieces goes. Not so. the only time you use your precious small pieces is when you start the center of the block, and that doesn't use them nearly well enough for me....the rest of the time you are sewing sections on top of long pre-cut strips. I think I would rather use my long pre-cut strips in other ways than to do this pattern this way....not using the little pieces that I wanted to use. Too many of the blocks turned up with the same fabrics in them...not enough variety, etc.

I guess I'm in a huffy mood. I'll just stick with Gwen Marsten's more selective, but not as fast ideas. I just can't believe I spent money on this pattern when I could have spent it on FABRIC!!